Bill Clinton: On the campaign trail, the former president attacked Obama. Since then, his support has been less than enthusiastic. (Don Heupel/AP/File)
Bill Clinton looms large at Obama’s party
His prime-time speech Wednesday is an opportunity to heal a Democratic rift.
By Linda Feldmann | Staff writer/ August 26, 2008 edition
Reporter Linda Feldmann discusses the importance of Bill Clinton's speech Wednesday night.
Reporter Linda Feldmann
Denver – Bill Clinton has never done anything on a small scale. He served six terms as governor of Arkansas before his two terms as president and now travels the world as head of a foundation that dispenses millions of dollars to fight disease and climate change. On the side, he earns more for one speech than most Americans make in a year.
Now, in a week that is supposed to be all about Barack Obama and his battle for the presidency against John McCain, former President Clinton has carved out an outsize role for himself here in Denver. Even if his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, has publicly said all the right things after losing a tough Democratic nomination fight with Senator Obama, Mr. Clinton has not.
And up until the moment he delivers a prime-time convention speech Wednesday – his sixth such address in as many presidential cycles – no one can be quite sure if Clinton’s appearance will help or hurt Obama. The greatest danger may well be that Clinton spends the bulk of the time talking about himself, doing little to convince voters that he and his wife are ready to cede the spotlight to Obama.
“He can do what Mario Cuomo did for him in 1992,” says Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College in California, referring to the then-New York governor’s convention speech nominating Clinton. “Everybody was wondering whether it would be a Mario-fest, but Cuomo very wisely kept saying the name Bill Clinton – Bill Clinton is this, Bill Clinton is that. The more that Bill Clinton mentions Barack Obama, the better it will be for the Democratic Party.”
Another risk is that he may get the words right, but in a tone or with body language that betrays a hint of dismay. That will only fuel the story line that the Clintons may not want Obama to win in November, so Mrs. Clinton can try again in four years. Of course, if Obama does lose, and either Clinton is seen as having hurt the Illinois senator’s chances, that could doom Mrs. Clinton’s prospects as a future presidential candidate.
It’s also highly possible that the former president will deliver a pitch-perfect address and take a big step toward winding down the Clinton-Obama soap opera. After all, Clinton is one of the great political showmen of his time. Even when he bombed in his first, overlong convention address – the 1988 nominating speech for then-Gov. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts – he quickly recovered by appearing on the Tonight Show, where he played the saxophone and made fun of his convention flop.
“Americans saw that Clinton had a sense of humor and that tended to neutralize the damage,” historian Michael Beschloss later said on PBS.
Throughout the 2008 primary season and beyond, Clinton has made no secret of his exasperation with Obama’s success. He called Obama’s anti-Iraq war message a “fairy tale,” and after facing accusations that he had played the “race card” in the run-up to the South Carolina primary, Clinton later accused the Obama campaign of “playing the race card on me.” When asked in a recent ABC-TV interview if Obama was ready to be president, Clinton replied: “You could argue that no one’s ever ready to be president.” Clinton has since steered clear of the media.
Representatives of both camps say that the two men have spoken in the past week and that the conversation went well.
Still, there’s no doubt that the longstanding friction between Obama and both Clintons has emerged as one of the dominant story lines of convention week and is in danger of being overblown. With so many media on hand – 15,000 credentials have been issued – in constant search of stories, the Clintons (and their die-hard supporters) have been an obvious focus. When Obama offered both Clintons prime-time speaking roles and the opportunity to have Senator Clinton’s name placed in nomination, he may have thought that would satisfy the need to honor the Clintons’ status as the party’s premier power couple.
But with the Clintons speaking on separate nights, that generates two days of headlines instead of one. And with Clinton speaking the same night as Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the former president threatens to overshadow Obama’s running mate.
Former Clinton aides have also kept the story line going – both in blind quotes to the press and publicly. Privately, the Clinton camp suggests that Obama has not done enough to help Hillary Clinton retire her campaign debt. Last week, in the New Republic, former Clinton aide Howard Wolfson wrote that “there is still work to do on the Bill Clinton front.
“He feels like the Obama campaign ran against and systematically dismissed his administration’s accomplishments,” Mr. Wolfson continued. “And he feels like he was painted as a racist during the primary process.”
Typically, ex-presidents ascend to a status of elder statesmen, doing good works. Clinton is the first ex-president to get back into the rough and tumble of the political game on behalf of his wife, and the risks have now become self-evident.
But he is not the first young ex-president to be seen as making mischief in his own party after leaving office.
“Teddy Roosevelt got very itchy and ran [for president] again in 1912,” says Mr. Pitney. “He ended up splitting the [Republican] party.”
Democrat Woodrow Wilson won the election.
Comments
2. LC | 08.26.08
Ya know what, Bill Clinton needs to get over himself. It’s not like he didn’t have a few problems in office. His “trist” is part of what caused the dems. the next election. Barack Obama won the democratic nomination and it’s time for the Clinton’s to let it go. Bill is only hurting his already tarnished legacy by being a spoiled “big” brat!
3. Sonia Kermaz | 08.26.08
Working class men and women need to know that Bill Clinton gave them NAFTA (loss of good jobs and health benefits) but lost them Congress!
If that weren’t enough to hurt the working class, Junior Senator Hillary refused to vote against the 2005 Bankrupty Bill. This bill was literally the last nail in the coffin of the working and middle classes; it has already cost thousands of families with astronomical medical bills their homes, cars, and future wages. Hillary’s refusal to denounce the Bankruptcy biil and vote against it indicates that she has the moral principles of a Hyena and the compassion of a flea. She’s like a high school student council president who pretends to be your best friend.
As for Hillary’s much touted “experience”, being the wife of a governor and president does not qualify Hillary to be president any more than being the wife of a surgeon qualifies my friend to be a surgeon. To cling the pants of your your spouse is dishonest and shameful. It’s demeaning to women such as myself who make our own way in the world on our own merits. Hillary had 30 years to contribute something of her own to the poor and the working class but she spent most of them chasing Bill’s star. She’s no different than “daddy boys” Bush and McCain, who were born with silver spoons but pretend to use shovels.
Women especially need to stop voting with their ovaries and start thinking with their brains. Hillary has done more harm than good to working women who struggle to feed their families.
5. Richard | 08.26.08
If never again to hear of the Clintoons, it would too soon. They are both liars and filled with greed. What they have done in the past is mostly for themselves, and never for the populace ans they pretend it to be. They have absolutely no concepts of decency and honesty, and have used and turned the Democrat Party into nothing more that a fulfillment of their own greed and dishonesty.
6. raoul | 08.26.08
It would be great if the media and the public would be satisfied with hearing the truth from both HRC and WJC about Obama. They have tried and were torn down. Mr. Obama will lose and HRC will end up winning the greatest number of write in votes in November than at any time in history.
7. Tillie | 08.26.08
Sonia.. you have hit the hammer on the nail! Women make me so angry when they say they will always vote for the woman candidate, if not , then the cute guy! It makes me feel they really do not know what is best for this country! The lady is out so are we going to vote for the cute guy now?
8. Martin Schnipper | 08.26.08
Why do so many people demand perfection as the standard for our leaders?
Bill Clinton deserves many “props” for eight years in which he served as our President. With the help of Robert Rubin, Robert Reich, Al Gore, and other intelligent and dedicated public servants, Bill Clinton was able to leave office with an economy much better than it had been when he took office, with high regard for America on the part of most of the world, and with relative peace throughout most of the world.
He definitely had a “zipper problem”, but his wife ultimately forgave him, his marriage survived, he seems to have zipped up, and his daughter obviously adores him.
As an Obama supporter, I was not overjoyed with some of Bill Clinton’s comments on the campaign trail as he attempted to help Hillary get elected, but Bill Clinton actually ended up hurting Hillary, not Barack.
Bill wants to be liked. In many ways, he is a likeable fellow.
Bill wants his administration’s record to be appreciated. In many ways, it should be.
Is he a saint? No. Who is? Does he deserve at least some respect? Yes.
9. Dave | 08.27.08
Pat Arrington | 08.26.08
Why don’t you call her Senator Clinton?
Mrs Clinton is his grandmother.
Maybe because no one thinks she is a Senator
10. Ellie Skinner | 08.27.08
Does anyone remember how well we and this Country did under President Clinton? He deserves our respect and thank you for doing it so well..our Country was respected, we had a surplus, we were all better off because of President Bill Clinton.
Why is it so hard for people to agree…people who benefited during those years are the ones who complain the most.
Mr. President, you and Sen Hillary Clinton have my support, my respect and gratitude.
11. Alice Paul | 09.22.08
How is Hillary a liar when Obama’s campaign cheated with ACORN IN EVERY caucus state! He did not “win” he cheated!!!
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1. Ellen Withrow | 08.26.08
Who wouldn’t be disappointed, to say the least, when someone like Hillary, who is the most intelligent, most experienced, most able speaker, loses out to someone who we, speaking for ourselves, had never even heard of?????? Obama may have been popular in Ohio but 2 years in the Senate is nothing compared to the over 30 years experience of Hillary. We have a problem with her not being the next President also when it is she who is needed so badly
to start returning our country to what it once was….respected, financially stable and with healthcare & education for all. We respect Obama & Biden both
but feel Obama has not paid the dues as Hillary has.